FORA.tv Speaker - Michael S. Paulsen

Biography

Professor Michael Stokes Paulsen teaches and writes in the areas of civil procedure, criminal procedure, legal ethics, constitutional law, and law and religion. He currently teaches courses on civil procedure, professional responsibility, separation of powers, and law and religion. From 1998-99 he held the Julius E. Davis Chair in Law. In 1999, he was appointed to the Briggs and Morgan Professorship in Law.
Professor Paulsen received his B.A. degree with distinction from Northwestern University, where he was a member of Phi Beta Kappa. He received an M.A. degree in Religion from Yale Divinity School and a J.D. degree from Yale Law School in 1985. While in law school, Professor Paulsen was an editor of the Yale Law Journal, won the Harlan Fiske Stone Prize for appellate advocacy, and was a director of the Yale Federalist Society. After graduation from law school, Professor Paulsen joined the United States Department of Justice in the Criminal Division Honors Program. In 1986 he became staff counsel for the Center for Law & Religious Freedom in Washington, D.C. He then returned to the United States Department of Justice as an attorney- advisor in the Office of Legal Counsel. Professor Paulsen joined the University of Minnesota Law School faculty in 1991.